On the previous Friday (01/09) February fell $.238 while 1,084,681 contracts changed hands and open interest increased an extraordinary 53,147 contracts. The only explanation, characteristic of such extremes in market internals, is overly enthusiastic speculative short selling. On Monday the late coming short sellers were taken to the woodshed. With February gaining $.240 nearly Friday’s loss, open interest fell 37,369. On Tuesday as the prompt traded the week’s high but faded to a gain of only a penny the total number of contracts outstanding fell another 7,515. Once that bloodletting (buying to cover ill – timed shorts) was complete February suffered a $.299 loss and began the expected decline toward establishing a lower low and testing support bracketing $3.
Weather forecasts over the weekend turned dramatically bullish and the bullishness left a gap in the Holiday trade (expect that gap to be tested when forecasts modify). Prices rallied up to the 100 day SMA before backing off. Would expect that was fueled by short covering after last week’s declines.
